


Final Preparations

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-11
Updated: 2018-05-11
Packaged: 2019-05-05 11:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14617326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: While Alec gets some much-needed rest, Magnus begins the final preparations for his trip to Edom... though the call he places hurts more to make than the fires of hell ever could.





	Final Preparations

**Author's Note:**

> Coda to 3x08

Alexander was sleeping. It was no easy task, getting him to sit still long enough for the exhaustion he felt to finally take over. He spent so much of the night pacing, talking through options, making calls. Isabelle went back to the Institute after a particularly frantic call from Underhill about members of the Clave showing up after Clary’s confession - Underhill had covered for them, for now, but he didn’t know how much longer that would hold out without one of them coming in personally. Alec wanted it to be him, but Magnus convinced him to stay.

His reasons were selfish. Not that Isabelle couldn’t handle things at the Institute just fine, and not that he didn’t make a good point; that if they arrested Alec as well things would go from bad to worse and he was better off stalling until they had another plan. But he didn’t tell Alec he already had another plan in mind, because he knew the moment he did it would become real. Magnus wasn’t ready for that just yet.

Instead he watched him pace across the loft. He watched Alec’s every move, taking in his hazel eyes, the worried creases in his forehead and the corners of his eyes, committing them all to memory in a way he hadn’t before now. Because before now everything seemed so certain. Before now they had nothing but time. Magnus offered small, supportive smiles. Kind words of encouragement. A squeeze of a hand or the pressure of a small massage around tense shoulder muscles while Alexander paced, and worried, and blamed himself for breaking his promise to his brother. Even now, as Alec slept on the sofa where he never meant to pass out, the muscles behind his eyelids twitched with tormented thoughts, breathing quick and shallow, his entire being restless even in sleep.

Magnus left him then, bare feet padding silently across the loft first to his bedroom to change, and then into his workspace. He wouldn’t be sleeping, not tonight. Possibly not for a long while. It started with a book - an old tome he pulled out of a locked drawer, the script inside a mixture of Chthonic and Purgatic. He had everything he needed already - he always did. They were small vials, locked away in that same drawer. An emergency plan for a day he always hoped would never come, the ingredients for a portal he never wanted to use.

But the decision was easy to make. It was made the moment Jace was gone and he saw the look of pure, heartbreaking despair in both of the Lightwood siblings’ faces. He was terrified, yes, but there wasn’t a question in his mind as to what he needed to do. This was his responsibility now. He gave Lilith everything she needed to get to Jace. He was the reason she went after Clary and killed Ithuriel in the process. He wanted to this for himself as much as for Alec. If there was something he could do and he chose not to, and something happened to Jace or Lilith continued to wreak havoc on Earth while he sat safely back and watched, he would never forgive himself. And the same guilt Alec felt in breaking his promise to Jace, Magnus felt in his inability to carry out his own promise. He swore he would do everything within his power to fix this, and when all else failed there was still one thing he could do. It was all he had left to try, and it was time to begin, before he lost his nerve.

The preparations for the spell were surprisingly easy, but he knew they would be. He was stalling. Though his hands did not shake once while mixing the fine black powder, they did when he finished and picked up his phone. It rang several times before going to a voicemail, his shoulders sinking visibly in relief.

“Catarina, I’ve never been more thankful you never answer my calls right away, because I absolutely could not handle you portaling here right now to try and stop me. I’m about to do something dangerous - more so than my usual. And I wanted to tell you before I left, in case - well -” He cursed the way his words caught in the back of his throat, clearing it and starting again. “That is to say, you’ll be pleased to know I took your advice for once. I thought outside the box - and outside of this realm - and all the way to Edom. I’m going to visit my father and ask for his help in stopping Lilith.” His voice shuddered as he said the words aloud for the first time. He plunged on quickly. “And should things go wrong down there, you know how Asmodeus can get, I have one last favor to ask of you. Please watch over Alexander for me? The pair of you may never forgive me if I don't return, but perhaps you could bond over that, eh?” He laughed a little, trying to make it sound natural, and not manic. The longer he spoke, the more final this sounded, and he didn’t like that at all. Time to cut this off. “Take care, Cat. I hope to see you soon. I’m sure this message is entirely unnecessary and you can give me a proper telling off when I get back, and-” There was a beep, and the message cut off. Magnus looked down at the phone in surprise for a second, not realizing how long he’d been rambling, before giving himself a small nod and placing it back in his pocket. It would do. He thought for a moment that he hadn't told her how much he cared about her, how much he appreciated her presence in his life for all of these years, but then that would've felt too much like a real goodbye. And this wasn't a goodbye. This was a just-in-case that they'd all laugh about someday once the danger passed and things settled down into a new normal again.

He heard a noise from the living room, the sound of slow, shuffling steps, and knew that Alec was awake. This was it. He had to start now, so that by the time he was done explaining he could turn and leave and do what needed to be done. He couldn’t allow Alec the time to change his mind, because he had no doubt that if anything could it would be the pleading look of those beautiful hazel eyes, begging him to stay. That he might give up the chance to save Jace's soul and rid the world of Lilith after just one word from Alexander was a decision they would both have to live with (and he wasn't sure they could) if he wasn’t strong enough for both of them to fight against the tempting prospect.

“Magnus?” The voice carried through the loft. The voice that simultaneously cause his heart to race and his breathing to stop entirely.

“I’m in here, darling.” He called after a steadying deep breath, readying himself for what was to come.

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com))


End file.
